Chapter 10: Tiny But Mighty

A/N: YES, that title IS a reference to theninjakid14/jetrashipper's OC, Nikki. Also, I obviously do not own the lyrics to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". :P

The following morning, I managed to peacefully wake myself up after getting about eight hours of sleep. I let out a yawn of satisfaction as I got out of bed and changed into my new pint-sized attire that resembled my old look from nine years ago. Dark blue shirt, black vest, black shorts, and all combined with my usual everyday items: my signature blue striped bandana, a fingerless glove, a black sleeve, and black combat boots.

As my mind went back to the walk that me and Jesse had yesterday, I wondered… "What would it be like for me to experience the outside world at this size… for myself?" As I nailed this thought at the front of my head, I dashed into the kitchen, grabbed my miniature version of Miss Butter from one of the chests, and burst out courageously to my monstrous bedroom, feeling like I was finally ready to go on an adventure after a long period of all fun and no risks of danger.

Hopefully, if no-one in Beacontown, or the Order Hall for that matter, was awake at this time, then I would be free to see just how much of an adventure exploring the world at the size of an ant would feel like.

I sheathed Miss Butter on my back, crouched down, and rolled underneath the small gap that was separating my colossal wooden door from being planted firmly on the ground. As I suspected from the quiet ambience of the corridor, all of my friends were still asleep, the sounds of their nearby snoring signifying that they were still stuck in Dreamland.

I started walking down the barren and empty corridor and into the main hallway, which also to my surprise, had no-one else besides me in it. Not even Axel was there, but he's told me countless times that he's an early bird himself.

The main hallway also felt quite empty on it's own when only the treasures that we collected during our past adventures were there to greet me. Nevertheless, I continued my trek out of the Order Hall and into the outskirts of Beacontown by rolling through another small gap that was separating the giant double doors from being planted securely on the ground.

I roamed around Beacontown's periphery, amazed to see that literally no citizens were awake at this time of day. The sun was even up and everything!

As I slowly took a stroll to the big door at the end of the outskirts, I decided to catch glances at our lovely citizens' houses, which were their gracious and friendly mayor Jesse massively approved of for putting so much effort and passion into them. The best part about these houses is that the builders didn't need Jesse's approval in the first place! They could've just built their masterpieces without saying a word to him and he still would've given them praise! That was the thing I loved most about Beacontown. Unlike Sky City, which was very restrictive with who was allowed to build what, anyone in Beacontown could build whatever they wanted without having to get permission from their mayor to begin construction.

When I finished reminiscing about what made Beacontown… Well… Beacontown, I finally made it to the gigantic red doors that were separating my teeny-tiny self from the outside world. Unlike the first two doors I passed, there was no small gap for me to roll under. There was however, a small hole in the wall beside the doors that I could fit through. And wouldn't you know it, it happened to lead straight to my desired destination. I always found it funny that considering how high quality this place is, everyone always manages to overlook these small holes shattered all over the town somehow. With no hesitation at all, I walked through the hole and ended up on the other side of the colossal wall.

"Wow…" I said to myself with awe as I gazed at the blue sky and endless plains, despite the fact that I was just as tall as the multiple blades of grass that partially obstructed my view.

"Now where I should venture off to?" I asked myself, placing my fingers on my chin to help me think about where I should go. Champion City maybe? That seemed like a realistic answer… The place wasn't too far from Beacontown, and all I needed to get there was to stay on the stone road and get through the forest unscathed. Seemed simple enough, right?

I clambered my way out of the towering grass and positioned myself behind the giant red doors and in the middle of the rocky boulevard. After a short period of time, I commenced my walk forward to Champion City. Hopefully, I could only spend a few minutes there before Jesse would start worrying about me not being anywhere in the Order Hall.

As I moved away from Beacontown with my tall combat boots touching the heavy stone surface, I started singing some half pre-existing, half "partially altered to match my current situation" lyrics to myself.

"I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. I know where it goes, and it's only me and I walk alone…"

I continued singing these words to myself as I also proceeded to drag my tiny body up the wooden bridge that was separating the stone road from the narrow forest.

"I walk this empty bridge, on the boulevard to Champion City…?"

I stopped singing to myself as I was starting to lose my touch with making up words to match the situation I was in. And it's a shame really, because improvisation was one of my strong points when it came to singing. At least I thought it was.

I brought myself back down the wooden bridge and into the small plains filled with trees. Even though the forest to Champion City wasn't very big, my new size and perspective made it look like the grass path seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

I dragged my big boots across the magnificent grass blades as I continued to keep myself on a straight path to ensure that I wouldn't lose my way to where I wanted to go. Refusing to make up words to replace certain ones that weren't relevant to my walk anymore, I started to sing to myself again…

"My shadow's the only one that walks beside me… My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating… Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me… Till then I walk alone…"

As I sang the harmonised 'Ah's, I soon heard something rustling in the grass, and that's when I froze in place, my feet firmly planted on the ground, and sweat of panic starting to drip down my forehead. I was literally petrified.

After seconds of hearing nothing but grass rustling, a gigantic, hulking wolf walked up to me and started to sniff my living carcass. "Should I just play dead?" I thought to myself, my teeth shivering in fear. "It doesn't seem like it wants to harm me, but even then, I do feel like I should kinda play it safe…"

The enormous wolf then revealed it's true nature as it's eyes turned blood red and started snarling at me, gnawing it's pointy teeth the more it stared at my terrified body.

"Hehehe… Nice doggy…" I cracked, slowly starting to walk away from the angry wolf by taking two small steps behind me, only for it to growl at me again. If that thing was planning on eating me for dinner, I had to get out of here as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry, doggy." I quietly said with a startled tone in my voice. "But I really can't stay for dinner…" I turned my back on the furious fur pile and made a run of it, only for the wolf start shooting after me!

This wild goose chase wasn't even remotely fair for me! The wolf like was 10 miles per hour faster than I could ever be! As I looked behind me while running as fast as I could, the bag of fur opened it's large, gaping mouth and tried to bite me! I jumped to my right to just barely avoid getting eaten by the crazed, rabid animal. I didn't need this oversized basket of fur chasing me! I didn't need another variation of the chase I had with Axel two days ago! All I wanted was to walk to Champion City in peace! Was that really too much to ask for?!

As I kept running for my life, I continued to avoid getting chomped by the mutt by jumping to my left and right. As Champion City finally came into my view and my feet started to get a feel for the newfound road of slabs, I was getting severely tired and I was starting to lose my breath, but I couldn't let this wolf chow down on me like I was it's fresh new bone!

As usual, I avoided getting eaten by the white mutt by jumping to my left and right. I switched up my repetitive pattern of 'left right left right' a bit to catch it off-guard, but it didn't seem to work because it was still hot on my tail, provided I actually had one to begin with!

"Come on, please let there be a hole between the gates!" I screamed out loud, just praying to god that I would be able to survive this encounter with a blood-thirsty wolf and live to tell the tale. And by some miracle, as if God was listening to my last desperate cries for help, there actually was a hole in the gates I could squeeze through!

"YES!" I squealed in relief, finally regaining my strength to outrun the mutt as fast as I could, and just in time before it could bite my face off!

I dived for the long, thin hole in-between the large iron gates and the stone floor, and I managed to slip through it and onto the other side before the ruthless wolf could graze me with it's razor-sharp claws!

Checking behind me one last time, the bag of fur kept trying to force it's paws under the hole, but the gap was too long for the wolf to even come close to dragging me back out the entrance. After a few seconds of trying to force it's paws through, but to no avail, the wolf gave a final frustrated growl and walked away from the big gates.

I gave a massive sigh of relief and felt like the biggest weights just got done lifting themselves off my shoulders as the mutt walked back to the forest where it belonged.

Wow… How was that for a morning?! I actually managed to outrun a rabid, bloodthirsty wolf all by myself! And while I was the size of a blade of grass, no less! I don't care if it was just pure luck or all stamina... To quote Jesse's long-lost sister, Nikki… I was truly on my way to becoming "Tiny but mighty".